March 15, 2009

First 2009 Contest winner nails "Hot and Cold" theme

Congratulations to Octavian Radu Topai (Tavi) of Timisoara, Romania, our first finalist in the Best of Nikonians – 2009 Images Contest. The finalist segment focused on the theme "Hot and Cold" and Octavian's image, entitled "Story of a Snowflake" successfully combined the two elements.

He tells us: "It was a cold winter, at about -12 to -15 Celsius degrees in the day time, temperature decreased by the strong wind. During the night our tent was buried in snow two times and nearly destroyed by the wind, but in the morning we had a very pleasant reward... This splendid view at the sunrise, with the snowflakes carried by the wind towards the sun. It looked like the frozen environment started to burn in flames. Unfortunately it didn't last too much. After about 20 minutes everything was surrounded by a consistent fog, which lasted all day long."

He used his Nikon D200 with a Tokina AF 12-24mm f/4 AT-X 124AF Pro DX lens zoomed to about 19 mm, aperture f/9, exposure time 1/30 sec at ISO 100.

Octavian started to take photography seriously while studying at his university and he prefers to shoot architecture, landscape and travel photography. This gives him the opportunity to go traveling, trekking and climbing.

He plans to go to the Pamir mountains in Central Asia this summer, and next year he hopes to travel to New Zealand.